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SANBS blood banks dry up

News, Our Health

The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) is facing a serious shortage of type O blood with just over a day and a half supply in its blood banks across the country. The blood donor organisation has appealed to citizens to make donations as a matter of urgency and become regular blood donors.

Masutane
April 11, 2017

Blessers: A short cut to a short life

Health, News

A production by the National Children’s Theatre brings to light the shocking normalisation and risks of the pervasive blesser-blessee phenomenon in South Africa writes Kim Harrisberg.

kimharrisberg
April 10, 2017

The hell suffered by patients at Holy Cross Hospital

Health Systems, News

Sick patients have been forced to leave their beds at the Holy Cross Hospital and head outside to a nearby stream to fetch their own water because taps in the government health facility ran dry.

healthe
April 10, 2017

patient transport overnight accommodation

A decade wait but still no psychiatric ward

News, Our Health

It has been almost 10 years since the psychiatric ward in Tshilidzini Hospital outside of Thohoyandou in Limpopo was burnt down – and still it has not been restored or repaired.

NdivhuwoMukwevho
April 7, 2017

A 12-year-old supports family of 8

News, Our Health

“Right now what I need and want is not important,” said a 12-year-old boy who spends his days begging for money.

cynthiamaseko
April 6, 2017

Norah takes sex education to schools

Health, Our Health

Diagnosed HIV positive at birth, pregnant at 16, raped at 19 – a young woman raised in Soweto is using her own life experiences to teach young people about HIV and unwanted pregnancy.

jamesthabo
April 5, 2017

Township TB drive highlights disease dangers

Health, News, Our Health

SOWETO – A door-to-door campaign conducted at Jabulani Hostel in honour of TB awareness month revealed that while many residents are infected, a high number of them have been defaulting on their treatment.

lungilethamela
April 5, 2017

Rape pregnant teen on suicide watch

News, Our Health

A 17 year-old teenager has been on suicide watch after attempting to abort her 16-week pregnancy – believe to be the result of rape.

cynthiamaseko
April 4, 2017

Patients stranded after clinic torched

News, Our Health

Recent protest action by angry residents at Duduza in Ekurhuleni has left sick people in a vulnerable position after their local clinic was so badly damaged it can no longer function.

EsauDlamini
April 4, 2017

Covid19: Healthcare workers under stress

Cancer is not a death sentence

Health, Our Health

After suffering with painful colon cancer for nearly five years, 59 year old Maki Makunyane-Moela of Alexandra township has been diagnosed free of the disease and is now on a mission to spread awareness that a cancer diagnosis is not always a death sentence.

Ramatamo
April 3, 2017

MP-MEC fight is good for Mpumalanga patients

News

A death threat, an angry phone call from an MEC – clearly, a parliamentary oversight visit to Mpumalanga touched raw nerves. But this is good news for patients, who have suffered enough in the province.

kerrycullinan
April 3, 2017

NSP fails to address HIV in prisons

News

The new plan that to guide South Africa’s fight against HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) fails to address some of “the drivers of the epidemics”, like overcrowding and sexual violence in prisons.

Amy Green
March 31, 2017

Sugar tax: too weak to be healthy?

Health

Government has so weakened its proposed tax on sugary drinks that it might not be enough to encourage consumers to switch to healthier drinks.

kerrycullinan
March 30, 2017

Vhembe get state-of-the-art hospital

News

After years of complaints by residents in Limpopo’s Vhembe district about the poor conditions at Siloam Hospital, the National Department of Health has stepped in to re-build the entire facility.